

Many Thousand of years ago there was
a land bridge between Asia and North
America.
o Present Day Russia and Alaska
During the Ice Age, people were able to
walk back and forth

First Peoples of America were Nomads.
◦ Nomads do not have a permanent place to live.
◦ Moved with their food
 About 7,000 years ago they learned how to farm.
◦ Set up a community and population began to
grow.
◦ The Native Americans settled in arctic ice fields,
mountains, and deserts.

 With
Farming
o No longer chasing food.
o Able to specialize in a certain type of job.
• Weaving, Pottery, and building.
Native Americans of the Arctic

Inuit ( IN-oo-it)
o Eskimos
o “The People”

Lived:
o Northwestern Alaska
o Northern Canada
o Greenland

Adapted
o Changes that allowed people to survive in an environment.

Housing:
Inuits Adapted to their environment by
created housing that helped to survive in
the extreme weather.
• During the winter they lived in Igloos
• Animal Skinned Tents.

Food
o Whales, Walruses, Seals, Salmon.
o Caribou, Polar Bears, Artic Foxes,
o
Squirrels, and Birds.
o Inuits adapted by:
• Eating all wildlife that was
Around.

Natural Resources
o The Animals they captured.

Used all resources from the animals
o Ate the meat
o Sewed animal skins for
• Clothing
• Blankets
• Tents
o Animal fat for fuel
o Bones for dogsleds, tent frames, and tools
• Knives
• Harpoons


 Region:
Northwest Coast
◦ Coast Alaska to California
◦ Still there today
 Climate:
◦ coast, mild winters, cool summers, wet
climate
 Northwest coast- wet climate, helped a rich
variety of plants to grow
Long House



Plank HousesLarge (up to 100 feet long)
Housed several families
from the same clan
 As many as 50 people
 Had rooms for storage.




Tall Logs carved with many
designs. 60 feet
Honor families or chiefs
Family History
Status.
◦ Farming was difficult
◦ Due to land and climate
◦ Adapted to rely on other Natural Resources
 Roots and berries
 Gathered from the forests
 Fish & sea animals.
 From the Ocean and Rivers.

An activity that everyone in the community participates in.

Salmon Run
 Salmon swim back up the rivers in which they were born
 This allows them to lay eggs where they were born.
 Salmon◦ Important source of food
◦ A family could catch
◦ 1,000 pounds of fish
 To keep fish all year around:
 Depending on the species of salmon
 Roasted
 Dried
 Smoked.

Fish Trap
o Wooden Fence Stretched
across a stream or river.
o Salmon passed through
the openings
o Into woven baskets.

Canoes
o Aided in fishing


Fish Hooks
Fish Spears
 Other Natural Resources:
◦ Wood
◦ Plants
◦ Animals
◦ They were used for:
◦ Food
◦ Shelter
◦ Clothing
◦ Blankets
◦ Boats.

Technology
 Made life easier
◦ Plenty of time for Technology
◦ Plentiful supply of Natural Resources.

Due to Water Ways
◦ Tribes were able to trade with other Tribes
◦ Lots to trade because of their free time to work on
technology.
◦ Made them very wealthy.
Beadwork Bag
Beaded Band
 Potlatch-
◦ special feasts
◦ Guests receive gifts
◦ Takes years to prepare
 This
occasion for:
 honoring a new chief
 celebrate a wedding.
 Potlatch:
◦ Host Distributes HUNDREDS of gifts.
◦ Host gets the Respect.
◦ Each host tries to out do the other hosts.
 U.S.
government forced Northwest
Coast people to move far from the
ocean
 1971-
a law that gave back to the
Native American in Alaska over 44
million acres of their original
homelands


Hopiti
oGentle people
oTypically farmers

Region:
◦ Southwest
 Desert
◦ Environment-
 land mostly made of tall mountains, deep
canyons, steep mesas
◦ Mesas
 is an elevated area of land with a flat top and
sides that are usually steep cliffs.
 Climate:
 Very dry, hardly any rain
 Very
hot (day)
 Freezing (night)
 Blizzards
and Flooding
 Adaptations:
◦ Dry Farming
 way of growing crops in places where there is
little water
 built dams & irrigation canals.
 Farmed in Flood plains near and around
mesas
◦ Hardy crops:
 corn with long roots, squash, beans, cotton.
◦ Very sacred to the Hopi everyone had a job.

Natural Resources
o Not many
o Had to improvise with invention
Adobe
Bricks
o Mud mixed with straw
 Shelter
◦ Pueblos-(villages)
 adobe(clay) apartment style homesprotection from heat and extreme cold
 To keep out intruders
◦ 1st floor of the pueblos
out doors or windows
 used ladders
was built with
 Kachina
ceremonies
 Religious Belief System
Spirits that visit the villages
Believe they bring rain to help crops
grow.
Show people how to live, behave,
bring peace & prosperity

Ceremonies held through out the 6 months the Kachina
Spirits were in the village.

Each Dancer represented a differed Kachina

Other dancers are Tcutckutu
o They cause Mischief

Takes years to train to become a dancer.
Example of a Sun Kachina


Represents
Spirit of the Sun
Main source of their
survival
Eagle Kachina



Air
Freedom
Movement
Nataska
Feared Ogre.


The Nataska make horrible
noises to scare the
children.
From the earliest ages,
Hopi children have heard
o Nataska would abduct
children and eat them,
o The parents negotiate with
the Nataska.
o Parents become the hero.
o
Clown Kachina

Represents
The clown would
o Misbehave
o Make fun of the ceremony

He would be taught a
lesson
o Moral of the Ceremony
o Teaches children
• To behave
• Expectations


 Region:
◦ Great Plains
 Middle West
◦ Prairie
 Flat or gentle rolling land covered with grass and
wildflowers.
◦ Black Hills
◦ Villages
 located near rivers, plenty of water for farming
 Climate:
◦ Summers Extremely Hot
◦ Winters Extremely Cold
◦ Lack of Rain
 made farming difficult
 Only farmed near rivers.

Village Living
◦ Lodges
 homes made of logs covered w/
grasses, sticks, & soil.
◦ From Buffalo caught
 Made Beef Jerky
 Food
◦ Men left their villages to hunt
buffalo in the summer
◦ Lived in Teepees.
 Teepees
(adaptation)
◦ cone-shaped tents made of animals.
◦ easily folded up & moved to follow
the buffalo.
 Travois
◦ sled-like device for carrying people &
belongings
Modern Made Teepee
Authentic Teepee.

Utilized the Buffalo with
everything that they did
o Teepee
o Food
o Clothing

Horses
◦ 1500s, Spanish arrived, in NA w/ horses that changed
the Plains’ lives
◦ Sioux tamed wild horses that escaped from the Spanish.
◦ Buffalo took place of farming and many stopped living in Villages.
 Started to live and follow the buffalo.
 Battles were
◦ Weapons
 Coup Stick-
fought to prove courage.
 French for “strike” or “hit”

used in a battle
 Did not strike to kill.
◦ Bow and Arrows
◦ Rifles
 After the Spanish.

Boys

Girls
o Hunted with their fathers.
◦ School
o School
◦ Chores
o Chores
◦ Dolls
o Lacross
◦ Helped mothers build houses
Sun Dance
12 Day Summer Ritual
Self-sacrifice.
Bonding of the Men of the tribe.
Dancing and inflicting wounds.


 Two
Main Languages Spoken:
◦ Algonquian
◦ Iroquois
 Both Very similar to each other
since they are from the same
region.

Region:
◦ Eastern Woodlands.
◦ Present Day North East Region.
◦ Near the top of the Appalachian Mountains.
◦ Near the Great Lakes
Climate:
o Humid
o Wet
o Cold Winters
o Cool Summers
o 4 distinct seasons

Shelter:

Iroquois where called
◦ Hoddenosaunee-”people of the longhouse”

Longhouses
◦ long buildings made of poles covered w/ sheets of bark.
◦ Can be 200ft. long, provided a home for several families
 Common Cooking area
 Separate living areas

a long rectangular piece of tanned
deerskin, cloth, or animal fur.

It is worn between the legs and
tucked over a belt, so that the
flaps fall down in front and
behind.

Sometimes it is also called a
breechclout, loincloth, skin clout,
or just a flap.

Food(Natural Resources)
o Ideal Climate for Farming
• 16 types of Corn
• 60 types of Beans
o Women were in charge of Farming.
o Forest:
• Animals, Syrup, nuts, roots, vegetables, oils, fruits, berries, teas, and
herbs for medicine.
o Oceans provided plenty of Sea Food
• Seals, Fish, Shrimp, Scallops.
 Technology:
o Wampum (Not a Natural Resource)
• consisted of small, polished beads
• Usually made from shells & then strung or
woven together.
• Woven into a necklace or a belt.
o Given as a gift on special occasions
Often made to help
remember an important
event.
 Clan
o Group of families who share the same ancestors
 Clan
mother
o Men were the head of each clan,
• Women held a great deal of power in the
Iroquois world.
• Clan mothers and other clan women chose
the male leaders but if unhappy replaced him.

How did the different tribes have to adapt to their living
environments?

How did different landforms help the different tribes?

What different aspects of culture did you notice from the
different tribes?